Man Who Hacked Puppy's Ears Gets Lesson in Karma

In 2007, Ontario residents and dog lovers world wide were shocked and appalled at the story of AK, a mixed breed puppy found mutilated and whimpering on a Windsor apartment balcony. AK’s ‘owner’ had hacked off the puppy’s ears off in an attempt to make him look more ‘menacing’.

A loop hole in Ontario’s notoriously lax animal cruelty laws would have allowed the owner to get his dog back during the investigation had he not willingly surrendered it to the Windsor Humane Society, leading a province wide outcry for reforms to the laws and maximum allowable sentences.

Rony Salman was ultimately sentenced to three months in jail for the mutilation of AK, but just learned that karma can sometimes quite literally bite us on the ass (or other body part).

As reported in today’s news:

Rony Salman, the Windsor man who earned media attention and jail time for cutting off the ears of A.K. the dog, has had some of his ear chewed off at Windsor Jail — and has been transferred out of town. “He was involved in an altercation at the jail and he had part of his ear bitten off by another inmate,” said Windsor police Insp. Cliff Lovell, noting that the report does not list any further detail on the injury. “I can’t give you the other inmate’s name because there are no charges being laid. There’s no complainant. “But the jail is required to make a report because there was an altercation between a couple of inmates.”

Salman served a paltry portion of his sentence for cruelty, after the judge in the original case, Ontario Court Justice Guy DeMarco, gave Salman two-for-one credit — two days for every one served so far — because he had been in the county jail for more than 45 days awaiting trial. Salman was back in jail this time for charges related to a south Windsor burglary, proving that stupid really is bred in the bone in some people.

The ear-biting incident happened on Remembrance Day, according to the jail report. Salman has since been transferred to Chatham Jail — an old, grey-stone structure topped with razor wire — where he declined on Tuesday to meet with a Star reporter. Salman is serving time for a burglary earlier this year in South Windsor. Previously, Salman was sentenced May 26 to three months after pleading guilty to three counts of animal cruelty, wilfully causing pain to an animal, causing unnecessary pain to a dog by not seeking veterinary attention and failure to provide care for — and wilful neglect of — a domestic animal.

Scot Wortley, a Toronto area criminology professor, speculates that the attack was an example of ‘jail house justice’.

“I don’t know the details of this case. Maybe this guy’s just a Mike Tyson fan,” Wortley said. “But it sounds eerily similar to what was done to the dog, so you would have to explore that possibility. “There’s a code of honour among criminals and they rank people who prey on children, who prey on women, who prey on the defenceless — and maybe a dog, I don’t know — as worse.”

Justice, karma, or simply the divine comedy of retribution – who can say? I do admit to finding it rather ironic that Salman will likely qualify for reconstructive surgery after his attack, while AK will bear the scars of his for life – and yet AK’s sweetness is still intact. Animals really do prove themselves our betters, over and over again. Read the whole story here.